Inching device for automatic drum winder



May 29, 1956 Filed May 19, 1954 F. F. KAISER INCHING DEVICE FORAUTOMATIC DRUM WINDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS May 29, 1956 F. F.KAISER INCHING DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC DRUM WINDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMay 19, 1954 I I I fi l l I II BY M "RQWK' ATTORNEYS Unimd tes PatentINCHING DEVICE FOR AUTOIWATIC DRUM WINDER Frank F. Kaiser, HighlandPark, N. J., assignor to John Waldron Corporation, New Brunswick, N. J.,a corporation of New Jersey Application May 19, 1954, Serial No. 430,789

12 Claims. (Cl. 242-65) This invention relates to drum winding machines,and more particularly to apparatus for achieving and maintaining propercontact pressure between the surface of the driven winding drum and theouter convolution of web which is being wound into a bundle on a core asa result of bearing against the drum.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved apparatus or inching mechanism for maintaining requisitecontact pressure between the outer convolution of a web being Wound on acore and the surface of a friction drum imparting winding drive thereto.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide fordriving the travelling bearings, which support the core on which web isbeing wound by contact with the friction drum, by means of a reversibleelectric motor with provision being made for determining changes in thecontact pressure between the bundle of wound web and the drum surfacefor controlling the direction of operation of the motor and theconsequent advance or withdrawal of the winding core from the drum.

One of the important objects of the invention resides in the provisionof riders arranged to engage supporting means for the Winding core whenpositioned above the winding drum to increase the pressure betweentheweb being wound thereon and the surface of the drum during the initialwinding stages and to act as detecting means for determining the needfor movement of the core to change the pressure exerted between the webthereon and the drum surface whereby a wound bundle of web withsubstantially uniform tension through the convolutions is achieved.

Another important object of the invention consists in mechanism formoving the bundle core beneath the riders from a starting positionsubstantially directly above the axis of the drum progressively fartherfrom the axis and displaced from the vertical therethrough until theriders are no longer effective, whereupon the drive tends to continuallyurge the partially wound core toward contact with the drum, means beingprovided in the drive system permitting slippage which automaticallycompensates for the increase in size of the bundle being wound.

One of the important features of the invention resides in the use ofreversible reduction gearing between the apparatus for moving thetravelling bearings and the winding core and slipping clutch mechanismdriven by the motor, whereby travel movement of the core resulting fromthe pressure of web accretion may be effected reversely of the motorurge without ditficulty.

Other and further objects and features of the invention will be moreapparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration of theaccompanying drawings and following specification, wherein is discloseda single exemplary embodiment of the invention, with the under-2,747,808 Patented May 29, .1956

2 within the scope of the appended claims without departing from thespirit of the invention.

In said drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of adrum winding machine to which the presentinvention is applied, parts of one side frame being broken away toillustrate details of the core bearing travelling carriages;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the associated motor, clutch, andreduction gear assembly for driving the core carriage transfer chains;and

Fig. 3 is a partial section on the plane of line 33 of Fig. 1, showingthe rider on the far side of the machine with its combined bundlepressure detecting means and motor reversing switch.

For many years it has been a recognized practice in winding webs ofpaper, fabric, plastics andthe like onto a core to engagethe web formingthe outer convolution of the bundle with the friction surface of aconstantly driven winding drum. The weight of the core and its accruingweb is relied on to provide adequate peripheral contact with the drum toachieve the winding, but since the weight of the core plus its webcontinuously increases, there is inadequate weight and diameter toproduce sufficient winding pressure to achieve a tight web at thebeginning, while as the winding proceeds and more layers are added thebundle increases in diameter and weight, and if the whole weight iscarried by the winding drum the increase in pressure causes the web tobe more tightly wound than desired, the outer layers constricting themore loosely wound inner layers with increasing progression until theinner layers are crinkled or crushed, often spoiling them for furtheruse.

In accordance with Patent No. 2,581,242, granted to Charles A. DickhautJanuary 2, 1952, this difficulty is overcome by providing additionalweight, which may be controllable in value, to augment that of the coreand initial turns of the web during the early stages of thewindingoperation. That patent also provides means for moving the winding bundletangentially away from its initial position directly above the axis ofthe drum and for maintaining a substantially uniform pressure betweenthe surface convolution and the drum after the bundle reaches aconsiderable size.

The present invention contemplates an improvement on the apparatusillustrated in the above patent,.eliminating complex apparatus requiringthe use of comstanding that such changes may be made therein as fallpressed air and the like for its operation and substituting therefor awholly electric drive system with electric control means.

Since the basic drum winding machine does not differ materially fromthat illustrated in the patent referred to above, only a briefdescription of the machine and its operation is deemed necessary here.The machine is primarily built up between two reinforced side plates 10secured to a spacing base and providing support for the various partsand carrying the bearings for the drum and the necessary rotatableshafts and the like. The principal component between the said plates isthe horizontally disposed drum 12 of large diameter arranged to bedriven as shown by the arrow at a constant speed by any suitablemechanism, not shown, forming no part of the present invention. The webW coming from any source, such as a paper making or converting machine,passes under a guide roll 14 journalled between the side plates and thenover a secondary roll which may be a spreader or the like at 15 andfinally into contact with the surface of the drum. The web is to bewound on a suitable core or tube of wood, paper or other desiredmaterial and several turns are manually put about a core, not showmwhichis mounted on a shaft 17 journalled in bearings 18 carried in blockssupported in travelling carriages 19, one at each end of the shaft. Asbest seen in Figs. 1 and 3, the carriages are adapted to run on theirrespective tracks 21, one formed on or carried by each side plate of themachine. Such tracks are substantially straight and inclined slightlyupwardly from the starting position shown in Fig. 1 slightly to the leftof a vertical through the drum axis. They serve to support and guide thecarriages as they are slowly advanced toward the right, as the webbundle grows, by a mechanism now about to be described. Each carriagetrack as seen in Fig. 3 has laterally spaced runners 22 defining achannel 23 in which the carriage advancing chain 24 travels. This chainis seen best in Fig. 1 where the one side plate has been broken away toexpose it. The chain is provided with laterally spaced side linksconnected by cross pins 25 which ride on the center rib 26 in thechannel 23.

a major portion of their outer area, are interleaved between metalannuli 59 and the driving plate 60 secured to flange 61, as shown. Aplurality of pins 62 extend normal from the plate 60 near its peripheryand engage in notches in the edges of the annular rings 59 so that theyare constrained to rotate with plate 60 but may slide in respectthereto. Interleaved between the respective driving annuli and drivenplates are the annuli of friction material radially positioned bybearing on the shoulders of the driven plates, as clearly illustrated.

The flange 61 has a hub member 63 journalled to rotate on shaft 55 andthrusting against the side of bearing 51. Drivingly attached to this hubis the sprocket 64 in alignment with motor driven sprocket 4t) and ad-Each carriage is provided with a longitudinal series of teeth 23depending on its center line between the track engaging surfaces 27 andreaching almost to the rib 26 whereby the pins 25 in the chain engagebetween the teeth for driving the carriage as the chain is moved.

As seen at the right end of Fig. 1, where several car- H by arcuatesurfaces and travel downwardly in the vertical reaches 31, thereafterfollowing suitable curved guides such as 32 until they pass about thedriving sprocket 33 and extend upward to the track. The pair ofsprockets for the two chains, one for each side of the machine, aresecured to a jack shaft 1, journalled as shown in plates 34 adjustablyattached adjacent the peripheries of suitable openings in the sideframes and equipped with adjusting screws and lock nuts for controllingthe tension of the chains. At the remote side of the machine as viewedin Fig. 1 the jack shaft extends beyond its bearing and is fitted with asprocket 36 for driving by mechanism about to be described.

Power for driving the chains is taken from a suitable motor M preferablyof the three phase type, capable of instantaneous reversal in a knownmanner. Through gearing incorporated in housing G forming an extensionof the motor shell the speed of the motor is materially reduced. Amagnetic brake (not shown) is incorporated in the motor in the customarymanner of justable idler sprocket 65 whereby a chain 66 over the threeserves to drive the driving elements of the clutch at such speed asdetermined by the radius of diameters of sprockets 40 and 64.

The clutch is completed by extending its shaft 55 into the externallythreaded sleeve 68 which journals its far end and maintains the clutchparts in alignment. The sleeve is threaded into the block 50 andprovided with hand wheel 69 for adjustment longitudinally of shaft 55.Between the shoulder 70 on this hand wheel and the thrust bearing 71arranged against the hub 53 is compressed a helical clutch spring 75.Adjustment of the hand wheel 69 changes the compression of the springsand through the sliding of hub 53 over shaft 55 determines theconsequent compression of the clutch friction rings to regulate theslipping resistance of the clutch. The drive is thus from motor M toclutch driving plates and from them to the clutch driven plates, backthrough shaft 55, flexible coupling 48, shaft 47, miter gear unit 43,chain 46 and the sprocket of the jack shaft I, for driving the carriageadvancing chains.

As described in the Dickhaut patent the carriage on each track isadapted to run beneath a rider 80 comprising at T-like device having atrack 81 on the under surface of the head adapted to bear on the runners82 on many commercial motors to increase the rapidity of reversal butforms no particular part of the invention. The shaft from the reducinggearing passes through the armature shaft and carries on its outer end asprocket wheel 40.

The motor unit just described is supported above a flat base 41 for thewhole drive assembly by means of an inverted U-shaped frame structure 42to the top of which the base of the motor is bolted, as shown. Partiallyhoused beneath the frame 42 is the miter gear speed reduc tion unit 43having a transverse output shaft 44 mounting a sprocket 45 from whichdrive chain 46 extends to the sprocket 36, on the jack shaft J of thewinding machine, for driving the chains. The longitudinally directed,horizontal drive shaft 47 of the miter gear unit 43 is coupled byflexible coupling 48 beneath the frame 42, to a clutch unit C supportedbetween elevated bearings 50 and 51.

The clutch is of the multiple disc fraction type and comprises a drivenhub 53 slidably but non-rotatably secured by key 54 to shaft 55 whichpasses through and the tops of the carriages. As seen in Fig. 3, thistrack 81 is secured on a casting 84 whose leg 84 extends into a socket85 on the side frame in which it is slidably guided normal to thesurface of track 21. The load provided by the riders may be adjustableto provide the necessary pressure on top of the carriages during theinitial winding operation, or it may be augmented by springs or thelike, adjustable if desired, to insure proper winding during the earlystages of putting the web on the core.

In the operation of the apparatus several turns of the web material arewound by hand onto a core, which is then placed on its shaft which ismounted in bearings 18 in a. pair of carriages 19 on opposite sides ofthe machine radius through the drum axis normal to the track whereby isjournalled in bearing 51 with its outer and secured to slidable on thereduced right extention of the hub and prevented from rotating inrespect-thereto by means of a key or spline. These plates reduced in,thickness for the friction between the web on the core and the surfaceof the drum starts to rotate the core. During this initial windingmovement the carriages move farther beneath the riders and as the coreaxis approaches said radius, the weight of the now lifted ridersaugments that of the core, its shaft, the bearings and their blocksslidably mounted between the forks of the carriages and arranged tosupport the runners 82. The web is now wound by the friction of the drumsurface with the embryo bundle supported by the drum.

As shown in Fig. 3 the'vertical sliding portion 84' of onerider isprovided with a lateral bracket 88 through greases which a screw 89passes and is adapted to be secured by a lock nut. The lower end of thisscrew is in alignment with the operating button 9. of a single pole,double throw switch 91 of the conventional reversing type. This switchis connected, through proper electrical apparatus forming no part of thepresent invention, with the motor M and a source of power in such amanner that pressure of the screw on the switch button connects themotor to drive the top reaches of the chains 24 to the left and releaseof the button causes movement to the right. The reversing switch 91 isin control only whenever the manual button previously referred to and amanual reverse button are both released.

As the bundle begins to grow in diameter from the added convolutions ofweb the bearing blocks slide upwardly in the carriages 19 lifting therunners 82 and the riders which are resting on them and imparting theirload to the core until the screw 89 is lifted from the button on thereverse switch, moving the carriages to the right and tending toseparate the bundle from the drum. This switch thus acts as a detectorto determine when too much pressure exists between the bundle and thedriving drum. As the motor reverses it starts to drive the chains sothat their upper travel slowly to the right as seen in Fig. 1, movingthe carriage with it and tending to separate the surface of the bundlefrom the surface of the winding drum, but before this can happen theriders drop and the motor is reversed again, now tending to urge thebundle against the drum. This sort of operation continues alternatelymoving the growing bundle away and urging it against the drum tomaintain a substantially uniform pressure contact between the windingweb and the friction drum, the chains moving the carriages along atangent path away from the drum surface as the bundle grows in diameteruntil the carriages pass from beneath the riders. The riders are sizedso that they become inactive before the bundle grows very large sinceits weight alone plus pressure from the motor urging the bundle to theleft is suflicient to obtain proper winding. As the carriages move frombeneath the riders, they, having nothing to lift them, move to theirlowermost positions and the switch 91 is closed in a direction to urgethe carriages leftward toward the drum, insuring adequate contact forwinding but advance of the carriages and the bundle is prevented byengagement of the surface of the bundle with the drum so that the clutchC begins to slip. As the bundle continues to increase in diametermovement of the carriages to the right is caused by the action of thegrowing bundle and thus their travel is contrary to that urged upon themby the motor M and slippage of the clutch and reversability of thegearing in miter gear unit 43 permits this result to be achieved. Thesetting of the clutch in accordance with the manipulation of the handwheel 69 and the consequent tension of the spring determines the amountof pressure existing between the bundle and the surface of the windingdrum and can be regulated by the operator to suit the circumstances.

The bundle having achieved its desired size, the operator may take overthe control of the movement of the carriages by the control buttons,which in their use disable the control by switch 91 to move the bundlefrom the position of the full line carriage at the right to a positionon the horizontal portion 29 on the track as shown by the dotted linecarriage where the carriages are beyond the influence of the chains andstop with the bundle positioned to be moved from the machine by anysuitable device for the purpose.

Thus the objects of the invention are achieved by simple mechanism whichis wholly automatic in action after the winding of the bundle has beenstarted.

I claim:

1. In a web winding machine having a constantly driven friction drumover which the web passes, a core on which the web is wound into abundle by peripheral contact thereof with said drum, movably mountedhearings in which said core is journalled, means for providing aninitial pressure on said bearings in addition to the weight of the coreand initially-wound web thereon during the early part of the bundlewinding operation to provide the necessary nip between the periphery ofthe drum and the periphery of the initially-wound web and weightsupporting means separate from said bearings and cooperating therewithfor at times supporting at least a portion of the Weight of the core andweb wound thereon; the improvement comprising means for slowly movingsaid bearings selectively along said weight supporting means away fromor toward a position substantially directly above the drum axisincluding a chain, an electric motor for driving said chain, meansresponsive to slight bundle lift by said drum due to increase indiameter of said bundle to actuate said motor in a direction to movesaid bearings away and means responsive to excessive lowering of thebundle from partial support on the said drum to actuate the motor in theopposite direction.

2. The machine as defined in claim I in which a clutch is providedbetween said motor and chain, and means to adjust said clutch to slip onoverload.

3. The machine as defined in claim 1 in which said means responsive tobundle diameter increase becomes ineffective after completion of initialwinding operation and a predetermined movement of said bearings and themeans responsive to lowering remains continuously responsive to urge thebundle periphery against said drum.

4. The machine as defined in claim 3 wherein said drive motor isequipped with means whereby movement of the bundle away from the drumresultant from bundle diameter increase is effected in spite of theeffort of the motor in the opposite direction.

5. The machine as defined in claim 3 wherein a slipping clutch isprovided between the motor and the bearing moving means whereby themovement of the bundle core away from the drum due to bundle diameterincrease is effected by slipping of the clutch against the effort of themotor.

6. The machine as defined in claim 5 in which the clutch is of themultiple plate type, spring means to exert pressure on the plates toprovide driving friction and manual means to adjust compression of saidspring to determine the slipping resistance of said clutch.

7. In a web winding machine having a constantly driven friction drum, acore on which the web is wound into a bundle by peripheral contact ofthe outer web convolution with said drum, bearings journalling saidcore, spaced tracks substantially horizontal and tangent to the drum, acarriage slidable on each track and each receiving one of said bearingsfor movement therein normal to the track surface, means movable on saidmachine normal to said tracks to rest on said bearings to augment coreand bundle weight during the early part of the winding operation toprovide adequate nip as the bundle is supported by the drum; theimprovement comprising means for simultaneously moving said carriages ontheir tracks from or toward a position substantially above the drum axisincluding carriage engaging means, an electric motor for driving saidlast mentioned means, means responsive to lift of said weight augmentingmeans to actuate said motor in a direction to move the carriages fromthe drum, and means responsive to lowering of the weight augmentingmeans to actuate said motor in the opposite direction to move thecarriages, toward said drum.

8. The machine as defined in claim 7 in which the direction of motordrive is controlled by a reversing switch, and means biasing said switchto actuate the motor in the from direction.

9. The combination of claim 8 in which the switch has an operator andmeans movable by lowering of one of said weight augmenting means toengage said operator to change the switch to actuate the motor in towarddirection.

10. The machine as defined in claim 7 in which a clutch is interposedbetween said motor and the carriage moving means, said clutch beingmanually adjustable to slip on predetermined overloads, said weightaugmenting means being sized to become ineffective as the bundle growsin size to have sufiicient weight of its own by the carriages movingfrom beneath the last mentioned means, and reversible gear interposedbetween the clutch and carriage moving means.

11. In a web winding machine having a constantly driven friction drum ofa diameter of the order of the bundle of web to be wound thereon, a coreon which the web is wound by peripheral contact of the outer webconvolution with the drum, bearings journalling said core, spaced tracksbeside and in a plane substantially tangent to said drum and inclinedupwardly in one direction from said drum, a carriage receiving eachbearing for sliding movement therein substantially normal to said track,means for simultaneously moving said carriages on their tracks upwardlyfrom or downwardly toward a position where the axis of the core isclosest to the drum surface, core and initial bundle weight augmentingmeans, comprising a rider associated with and slidable upwardly inrespect to each track in response to engagement by the correspondingcore bearing; the improvement comprising an electric motor for drivingsaid carriage moving means, a reversing switch for said motor, meansconnecting said switch and one of said riders to actuate the motor inthe from direction when the rider is lifted and in the toward" directionwhen the rider approaches its lowermost position, a friction clutchbetween said motor and carriage moving means, and adjuster to select thetorque at which said clutch slips and a reversible speed reducer betweensaid clutch and said carriage moving means.

12. The machine as defined in claim 11 in which said riders areconstructed to be released by movement of said carriages after thebundle achieves a predetermined diameter whereby the motor iscontinuously operated in a direction to urge the bundle toward the drumfor windin g torque, the said clutch being constructed to slip under thecounter torque of the movement resulting from bundle size increase.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,531,242 Dickhaut Jan. 1, 1952

